uprightbent

I guess its pretty safe to say the drop bar is the standard for most any road bike. A few posters have written that it's kind of silly to have drops for riders who never get in the drops. I'm considering them and think that maybe getting 2 or 3 useful hand positions is okay if I don't use the 4th? I guess I'll just have to risk being called a poser.

Lastly, is the Noodle the favorite pick because it has shallow drops?

knucklesandwich

I have drops on my bike and rarely get into them (esp on my commute) but I find riding the brake hoods is way more comfortable than riding with my hands on flat MTB style bars. It's just more natural to have my hands in the position in which they hang by my sides anyway (palms facing in). A good compromise is to get drop handlebars and install chicken/cross/interruptor levers like on a cyclocross bike. These allow for more upright positioning when riding in traffic but still allow access to the brakes. And if you have drops, you'll eventually get comfortable using them, like on those Friday nights when you have a tailwind and just wanna haul @ss...

climbhoser

I like drop bars for many reasons, none of which are the drops.

I like how they're at least a little narrower than flat bars; I like riding on the hoods; I like having the drops and hoods for out of saddle cranking.

I see lots of tourers that never use the drops. They are there, however, if you want to use them on a speedy descent or, as I mentioned, for out of the saddle cranking.

At the end of even a short ride with flats my hands usually hurt because I end up stuck in one position the whole time. It's frustrating.

knobster

The Noodle is a little different than standard bars. They flare in on the top for wrist comfort. I don't think they are really what I'd call shallow though. They look pretty standard to me, but have the old style bend. I like them because they have a very large flat area behind the hoods. Lots of room to move your hands around.

I rarely use the drops as well, but I'm a slow recreational rider. Don't need them. With STI's though, I don't see any alternative. At least none worth worrying about.

Navy_Chief

Call me a poser also... Drop bars and never ride in the drops..

Chief

matthew_deaner

I set the handlebar height on my bikes up so that it is comfortable to ride in the drops. I spend most of my time there... I normally switch to the hoods when riding at slow speeds in traffic or when climbing.

You might want to try setting the handlebars a bit high, so the drops are comfortable to use. Then you'll have even more usable hand positions.

kyselad

Obviously nothing wrong with using a bar you like, regardless of whether you use the whole bar. If you're pretty sure you won't ride the drops but still like a variety of hand positions, you might also try a mustache bar to see if that suits you.

swc7916

+1

truman

I use the drops primarily when trying to slip a headwind. As they're set up on my bike, they're just a shade low for staying on them all day, but it's comforting to to know in that situation that I'm as aero as I'm likely to get.

turtle77

Plus, let's be honest, drop bars look cooler too...

Rob_E

I used to have drop bars and never ride in the drops. Eventually I turned my handlebars up, so I could be more upright in the drops than I could in the flats. It looked goofy, but I was too cheap to spring for new handlebars. With my latest bike, I made a point of getting something without drops, only to find that flats really don't suit me either, so I'll be trying out some trekking bars as soon as that box from Nashbar shows up.

BroadSTPhilly

I just got a bike with drop bars and I would say I use the drops and the brake hoods fifty fifty. When I had flats my nerves in my wrists would get pinched and numb my fingers. No such problem in the drops or on the hoods.

DataJunkie

I use them from time to time when hauling arse down a hill or mountain. That and riding into the wind.
Due to my personal preference for riding bikes with a smaller frame (large saddle to bar drop) they tend to be a tad uncomfortable. Plus, being that I am bent so far over I am effectively fairly aero sitting on the hoods.

Flimflam

I get in the drops very rarely, only for wind and *really* hauling, even then not always. I prefer riding on the tops with my cross levers at hand, or on the hoods mostly. I have risers with barends on my MTB which seems to work fine, though I've not ridden over 40 miles in a day on that bike.

GCRyder

I like them best, mostly not because of the drops, but because they have places to put your hands in an "anatomically (sort of) correct" position at about shoulder width. Most of the alternatives put your hands too far apart if you want them in any position other than parallel to the front plane of your body. That was my problem with flat bars and bar ends - if you cut the bar to get the ends close enough together, all the room is taken up by the brake levers. Bullhorns work almost , but trying them was what made me realize that I actually use the drops more than I thought. There are times when I just must grab those drops and hammer away, and for a few seconds pretend I'm still capable of wringing something resembling a sprint from the shell of a 57-year-old Fred.

jcm

Nitto Noodles and the Nitto B115 are considered rather shallow by some standards today. They both have a drop of 5" I think. Plus, the fall-away angle is nearly parallel with the ramps, making them feel shallower still. They don't have the "ergo bend" as they are a traditional type of bar. Honestly, I can't come up with a reason for the ergo bend for anything but racing. The little straight grip area just forces the elbows even lower, til your forearms are nealy parallel to the ground. You either have to be very skinny (read: no gut), or a very competitive rider to get any useful distance out of that kind of bar.

With the Noodles/115, you set them high - the tops should be level with your saddle peak. I find that the best position is to set them up with the ramps dead level with the ground. This generally points the bar-ends somewhere near the top 1/4 of the rear wheel. Just right. With the shallow drop, the bars are pretty comfortable for a long time. After all, they're made for touring.

Many of the newer styles will point the bar-ends at the rear hub because of the open angle of the drops. Too low. To get the flatter drop grip, you have to rotate the bars so the ramps are pointing down in front. Thus, neither postion is good for long.

subframe

I'm thinking that when I build my dedicated commuter, I'll use Soma's 'urban pursuit' bars. This would give me two or three hand positions, and since I don't get in the drops that often on my commute I won't miss them.

Plus, they look cool (on the right bike)

https://www.somafab.com/barpursuit.html

tarwheel 

You might also consider bullhorn bars. That would give you at least 2 positions -- on the tops and on the bar ends. I've got drop bars on my commuter and probably use the drops about 5% of the time at most -- but when you need them, drops can be very nice. I primarily use them when riding into headwinds to cut resistance, or just to stretch out or relieve pressure on my hands. I probably would have bullhorns on my commuter except I use a bar-end mirror that would not work very well with b'horns. On my roadbikes that I use for longer rides, I use my drops all the time. I find that a lot of roadies rarely use their drops because their handlebars are too low to begin with, so it's uncomfortable riding with that much drop. For commuting, drops are less important because I'm not riding as far distance-wise, and a more upright position gives you better visibility in traffic.

JeffS

A turned up stem looked goofy, but you're fine with a trekking bar?

That's odd.

Rob_E

Point taken. But a turned up set of drops doesn't just look goofy, it looks wrong. And it's not as functional, in that I don't think I hand positions were all that comfortable, it was just that my overall position was more to my liking. At least a goofy looking set of trek bars will look like they're supposed to look. Whether or not I'm fine with riding with them remains to be seen. But whether they're trekking bars or turned up drops, I can't see myself passing on a set of handlebars because they look goofy, just because they don't work they way I want them to.

caloso

If you're sure you'll never, ever, ever use the drops, then I'd second the recommendation for bullhorns. They're light, aero, and offer 3/4 of the hand positions of drop bars.

On the other hand, even if you'd only use the drops 10% of the time, it's absolutely worth it for those occasions.

HardyWeinberg

How much you use the drops might depend on your stem setup. The flats of my bars are about saddle height and I'm pretty much always on the drops. The stem is more tall than long so when I'm up on top, I'm pretty much vertical.

Mr. Underbridge

What I don't get about riding on the hoods is how you do a hard acceleration. I find when I'm really cranking away in the saddle, I'm pulling down on the bar to keep myself down How could one do that from the hoods?

As far as using a drop bar without the drops, it just seems like a very suboptimal solution to me. If I didn't like the drops, I'd go with bullhorns and bar-ends all the way.

I also don't understand the notion that drops have to be low. Just get a different stem.

Lamplight

Count me as another who almost never uses the drops. I generally have my bars adjusted so the tops are level with my saddle, but even then the drops are just plain uncomfortable to me. Plus they don't feel nearly as stable. My favorite spot to hold the bars is on the ramps just behind the brake levers. If I want to get into a more aerodynamic position (which is extremely rare), I simply crouch down more. I'm sure bullhorns would be comfortable to me, by they would look ridiculous on my bikes.

moxfyre

I'm kind of surprised that people don't use the drops! On my commuter/touring bike, I'd say I use them about 25-40% of the time. I particularly like them for fast descents, standing and mashing out of the saddle, and keeping a more aero position when it's raining.

On my road bike that I use for fast club rides, I'd say I'm in the drops 40% of the time when I'm drafting, and maybe 70% when I'm pulling. 80-90% of the time if I get dropped and have to work to catch up